Countdown: Nine
by KJ4
Summary: Mirage warned them. She, and two others, voted against the proposal. And even after the cataclysm Buddy used as a "distraction" to escape, the others just won't listen.


Disclaimer: Don't own Incredibles. Don't own Aberrant. Wish I did, but I don't "Where Is My Mind" was written and performed by The Pixies. Jason Miller was created by me (not sure what he is yet, but he's on the Proteus Council).

Author's Notes: Yes, I watched Fight Club again the other night. If you haven't seen the movie, then you probably won't get the little in-joke/reference at the end. I just felt it would be kind of cool to do something like that...and...hey, it was a cool song. Also...didn't think Rammstein fit the mood this time around.

Anyway, for those of you who are clicking on this story for the first time and have not read "Countdown: Ten" or "Awkward Times, Interesting Times", you might be a little confused by this, but I think there's enough of this drabble to make it stand on its own. As some of you have guessed, the "Countdowns" are going backwards from Ten to Zero. And because they're mostly "stand alone" stories in my twisted little 'verse, they're also easier to crank out....though, to be honest, I think "War of Angels" will be easier than "Awkward Times" because I don't have to do the introduction and set the foundation for this scary little verse.

As usual, thanks for the reviews.

This Countdown was fun to write, except I kept having to re-write the Buddy scene. I'm still not entirely happy with it, and I'm sure I'll probably make some revisions/corrections to it over the next few days. But hey...it's up, and I hope you like it.

Oh...and by the way...you might notice David will be absent (or just in the background) through most of Countdown...yes, that is intentional.

* * *

"_The death count has officially reached half a million from the disaster and it continues to climb as more reports come from Somalia, Yemen, the UAE, even the south coasts of Pakistan and Iraq. Shipping firms and Ocean liners have been advised to stay out of the region until the Project Utopia taskforce has concluded its investigation. Though it seems that there has been no new activity in the Indian Ocean, tensions remain high as experts from around the world try to figure out what could possibly cause what can only be described as an event of nearly biblical proportions..."  
_

_-N!Channel newscast _

* * *

_**Addis Ababa, Project Utopia (formerly Ethiopia)**_

_**Proteus Council Chambers**_

Even though it was three dimension holo-projection on the middle of the council chamber, the image was still a horrific one. It showed the large facility known as C-12 Neptune being hit by several large waves that tore of parts of the superstructure....then the image zoomed out, showing a large whirlpool starting to form to the point of being at least seven or eight miles wide before suddenly collapsing, sending countless large waves of water crashing down on the station, ripping it apart. Then it was as if something reversed itself as a giant water spout suddenly began to form, throwing away debris sucked up from the ocean floor along with bits and pieces of the the station.

For some members of the Proteus council, the rising column of water reminded them of the old photos taken of nuclear bomb tests done in the Pacific. Slowly, after several minutes, the waterspout collapsed back into the ocean, but the satellite image still showed activity as whatever caused the disaster sent giant waves slamming into the coast of Somalia.

"Stop."

The image suddenly froze, it's high-definition display frozen for all to see, only to dissolve as a woman with long platinum blond hair walked through it. The expression on her face was one of repressed rage as she spoke.

"You were all warned."

Mirage didn't bother hiding the anger (and fear) in her voice as she addressed the other members of the Proteus council. She wasn't sure which emotion had the upper-hand, but she really didn't care. Out of the entire council, she was the only person who knew what kind of hell they were toying with, but her warnings were ignored by the four members of the council who voted in favor or releasing Buddy Pine from his prison to kill David Flynn. Though two members of the council voted with her to prevent it, she was certain that even they had no clue what Buddy was capable of.

"When this proposal was brought to the council, I warned you against sanctioning this action." Her eyes narrowed to slits as she focused on the silhouette of the man sitting behind the dais marked with the number 3. "But my warning fell on deaf ears belonging to those who actually believed they could control a rabid animal with a high intelligence. And now, that animal now loose...congratulations, Three...you got what you wanted. Now we have to deal with it."

Three merely shook his head and laughed. "Spare me your righteous indignation, Mirage," Three snapped back at her. "You're just pissed that your ex-lover is now loose and he might come knocking on your door."

Mirage smiled coldly at the man, noting that he addressed her by name instead of by council number. "Careful, Reese," she said. "We may both be members of the Proteus Council, but don't think for an instant that means I'll tolerate your patronizing attitude."

Three was about to respond, but was cut off by the young man at Dais 6. "She's got you there, Three. Besides, if Pine comes after her, that means he'll be coming here...which means we're all targets, but since you got at least a hundred pounds on most of us, you make the bigger target."

"Enough," snapped Two. "You're starting to sound like a bunch of undisciplined school children."

"Sorry, Daddy," chuckled Six. "I forgot, as the ruling members of Proteus, we must set an example."

"Your flippancy is neither amusing or wanted, Six."

"Tough, you're stuck with it anyway," Six said. Then his tone got more serious. "Like Mirage, I had a pretty good idea what that fucker could do."

"Language, Miller," barked Three. "This hardly the place for that."

"Fuck that," said Six/Miller as he thumbed the button that lit up his dais, revealing a young man in his late twenties with sandy-brown hair and half-smirk on his face. "My father...Gamma Jack...remember him? My father was murdered by Buddy Pine's little creation and I find it kind of odd because he was involved with the Aeon Society, just like Buddy was. And yet...for some reason, he was one of the first people Buddy targeted...kind of funny seeing as how they were both technically on the same side at the time."

"And what are you implying by that?" This time, it was Five who spoke.

Miller shook his head, giving his fellow council members another smug grin before answering. "Nothing," he finally said. "But with Pine now loose and not under our control, it's only a matter of time before he comes after us. While that does scare the shit out of me, I have this nice warm feeling inside because I know that he's also going after you assholes as well."

"Okay, Jason," said Seven. "That's enough."

Miller leaned back in his chair, thumbing the light control again, allowing him to disappear back into the shadows. "Yeah, whatever. You know what, screw this cloak and dagger bullshit. I don't know about you people, but I'm not going to sit and let myself be a target. So unless there's an important council decision to be made, I'm outta' here." His silhouette suddenly dissipated as the holo-projector above his dais deactivated, severing his link to the council.

"Arrogant little shit," grumbled Three. "Probably cares more about his playboy lifestyle than the cause."

"He may be young," Thetis said, finally joining the conversation after tiring from watching her colleagues tear into each other. "But do not underestimate young Miller." She then nodded in Mirage's direction. "Like Four and Seven, he understood the risk which we, apparently, failed to acknowledge. However, what's done is done, and now we must take care of the situation. So...any ideas?"

"Yeah," said Three. "Find Lansing and have him shot."

"Unfortunately, that may be a problem," Two said. "Lansing has gone missing."

"Missing?" Thetis couldn't believe what she was hearing. "How could Lansing suddenly disappear?"

"Well, Laragione canned his ass after the SST debacle, and he quickly disappeared after that." Two didn't bother hiding his disgust. "Apparently, he had an escape plan in place if things went south."

"So, how bad is the damage?" Thetis asked.

"Almost every coastal town in Somalia got hit, some of them were completely washed away. There was also some inland flooding for at least a couple miles." Mirage kept her voice even, despite the images that were now being displayed of the damage caused by Buddy's escape. "Yemen, the UAE, Iran, Pakistan, and India also experienced some flooding, but nothing on the scale of Somalia. In addition to that, several freighters in International shipping lanes were hit as well...we know of seven that were sunk...no survivors."

"Dear Lord, what have we done?" someone muttered. Mirage wasn't sure who it was, but it sounded like Five. "And this is just his escape attempt?"

"It gets worse," Two said. "Apparently, some of the debris has been recovered, including one of C-12's communication towers. As most of you know, we have denied having a facility out there."

"A public secret that was neither confirmed or denied," Mirage added. "Aside from the containment facility in Bahrain that Utopia continues to deny, people knew we had some sort of facility out there. Satellite photos had made their way on the net a couple years ago, and even a few conspiracy theorists hinted it was a facility meant for containing rogue novas...we even went so far as to build up that story."

"Isn't that inviting trouble?" Five asked.

Mirage raised an eyebrow in response to that question. "Would you rather have them know the true reason for C-12's existence? The fact that it was meant to only contain one of the most dangerous novas in the world."

"You exaggerate, Mirage," scoffed Three. "He's a glorified egghead with an ego problem, nothing more."

"And yet," Mirage replied, gesturing to the images of devastation still being projected behind her, "Pine was able to do this. Make no mistake, people...this council voted 4-3 in favor of letting him escape...in essence, we released a venomous serpent in an attempt to protect our Eden from an annoying pest."

"If that was a cheap shot at my beliefs," said Five, "it was in very poor taste."

"No, it wasn't a cheap shot, just statement of fact." Mirage then turned and focused on Dais 1 where Director Thetis was sitting. "And believe me when I say that no amount of 'spin' or planted stories in the world media will be able to downplay this, because we're just fooling ourselves if we go that route."

"Then what do you suggest, Mirage?" Unlike most of the others in the council, Thetis' voice wasn't laden with contempt or anger. It was an actual honest question.

"First, I would suggest setting up defensive measures, recall all Team Tomorrow cells to their respective bases." Mirage waved her hand at the holo-projection behind her and the multiple images of the disaster were replaced by a world map that highlighted key Utopia installations. "The one thing I do know about Buddy Pine is that he loves killing supers." She managed to suppress the shudder as she remembered Buddy Pine watching various Omni-Droid footage and reveling in the death of each super. "Having so many novas around, especially the ones that are seen as public figures, is just asking to be hit and he would love to make a bloody and public display just to let people know he's back."

"Don't take this wrong way," said Three. "I can understand your reasoning behind this course of action, and I endorse it, but c'mon, Mirage. He's just one man, he has no resources to speak of, and I seriously doubt he can take on someone like Caestus Pax."

"Yes, one man who nearly caused a geological polar shift just to escape. You're right, he probably can't take on Caestus Pax and Pax would probably survive it, but the rest of the world would not." A cold smile formed on her lips. "Which would kill Pax in a way, since he would no longer have millions of people worshiping him, buying his action figures, or seeing him as the 'hero of the world'. But who am I to argue with your logic?" On a mental command from her, the images of the devastation of the Somali coast reappeared. "If you want to risk causing another incident, then, by all means, ignore my suggestions."

* * * * *

_**Vancouver, British Columbia**_

_**Canada**_

Hiro Nakishima hated coming to North America, especially the Pacific Rim. Granted, there was Seattle, Washington and his second favorite baseball team of all-time, the Mariners, but that was a three hour drive south of here...down in the US. Unfortunately, his business didn't take him there this time. Instead, he was at a port facility in Vacouver, overseeing the delivery of some goods from Japan. He wasn't exactly sure what it was about Canada that bothered him. It was a beautiful country, not polluted and nowhere near as noisy and obnoxious as the US...even the customs and law enforcement officials were polite.

Perhaps that's what scared him. Having grown up in a crime family, he had learned to have a healthy hatred for those claiming to be "upholding the law". In fact, he saw most law enforcement officers as hypocrites, they were basically hired thugs just like him, but they had a badge. Of course, then there were those members of the law enforcement community, like certain port security officers, who tended to change their morals when certain amounts of cash were flashed in front of them. To Hiro, those were the worst hypocrites of all, because they never understood the oaths of loyalty to their masters.

On the other hand...dealing with these honorless curs was the cost of doing business and, for the Nakato yakuza clan that Hiro was a part of, the profit more than made up for his having to deal with these scum. A mere fifty-thousand was enough to get port security to ignore the shipping container full of banned hardware and even got truck ready to take the container to the one of the warehouses the Nakato owned through a holding company based in Vancouver.

And yet, Hiro still felt uneasy as they pulled into the warehouse. A quick glance at his palm-pilot informed him that security had not been compromised...and yet, something didn't feel right. When the warehouse doors closed and the men he had posted on security detail assured him it was safe, he ordered the others to open up the container offload their cargo.

A half hour later, several crates were on the floor and pried open, revealing various high-tech weaponry...technology that was banned or highly regulated by Utopia's hated Scientific Technology Division. On the other hand, it was a very profitable venture for both the Japanese corporations who secretly developed these technologies and for the Nakato, who were willing to smuggle these weapons to people willing to buy them...a partnership born out of necessity. Yes, there were certain people back home (notably the few politicians who did support Project Utopia) who would oppose this activity if they knew about it, but they were outnumbered by the rest of the politicians who believed that Project Utopia was preventing Japan from returning to its full glory by trying to regulate (or simply confiscating) any form of advanced technology that might have the capability of being used in a hostile manner.

_Except any kind of new development can be used in some hostile manner_.

Hiro shook his head at that thought. As much as he hated law enforcement, he hated the Utopian hypocrites even more. He may be yakuza, but Hiro also thought of himself (as did all members of the Nakato) as a patriot wanting to see his country be great again. Project Utopia, despite their rhetoric and alleged "good intentions", were simply out for power and control...pure and simple.

"Okay, everything's here," he heard one of the others tell him as they handed him a clipboard. "Both the manifest and inventory have been physically verified."

"Good," Hiro said. "Any word on our buyers?"

"We got about two hours before the initial contact." The man frowned as he stepped forward, lowering his voice so only Hiro could hear him. "I just hope this is worth it."

"You do not approve of this transaction, Odai?" Hiro kept his expression neutral when he asked the question, though he wanted to smile at the other man's discomfort.

"I don't question my orders," Odai replied. "But I do question our potential business partners and the wisdom of doing business with them."

Normally, this kind of talk was not tolerated and Odai, like Hiro, had grown up with the Nakato being a part of his life. He knew better than to ask a question like that. However, Odai's loyalty was never in doubt, which is why Hiro kept the man around. Odai would never question anything unless he saw it as a possible threat to the Nakato. If it had been someone else, Hiro would have threatened or simply killed them for daring to question their orders. But he could find no fault with with Odai's question...because he also had a bad feeling about this.

"I understand your apprehension, my friend," Hiro said. "The Michaelites are...a bunch of psychotic fucks, but they're money is as good as anyone else's."

Odai chuckled. "Very subtle." Then his smile faded. "I just hope they don't try anything, because I got a bad feeling about this."

"You and me both, Odai." Hiro patted his friend on the shoulder before walking off to talk to the others. "Okay people, we got a couple hours before contact. Keep an eye out...we don't want to risk any intrusions of the 'Utopian' kind."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too worried about that," he heard someone announce from the shadows of the warehouse. "Methinks they're a little busy with that tiny disaster that slammed into the African coast last week."

Several laser dots belonging to the weapons of yakuza members peppered the darkness in response to the voice, prompting the intruder to chuckle.

"Wow...look at all those guns!"

"Show yourself!" Hiro called out. "Or we start firing."

"Typical thugs," sighed the voice. "Always wanting to shoot something...but since you asked so nicely...."

A man stepped out of the darkness...just under six feet tall, red spiky hair, with a slight muscular build, and wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. He gave the yakuza men an awkward grin, but what threw Hiro off was the man's cybernetic right arm. He had known there were some advancements in the field of limb replacement, but nothing like the sleek silver appendage attached to the stranger.

"Now who the hell are you?" Hiro asked.

The man actually looked stunned at Hiro's question. "Excuse me?" He then looked at the ground and shook his head. "Shit...I really hope this doesn't become a habit." Then, without warning, and faster than anyone could react, his flesh and blood arm snapped up, a gun in hand. The last thing Hiro Nakisima remembered was the gunshot, something impacting him in forehead...and his world suddenly going black as the bullet ripped through his skull, trailing a mixture of blood and brain matter as it exited through the back of his head.

The other yakuza members responded by opening fire on their target and kept firing until their magazines were emptied. After about thirty seconds of continuous fire, silence filled the warehouse while some Nakato members reloaded. The others were in shock as they saw all their bullets suspended in mid-air only a few feet from the man that should have been turned into swiss-cheese from the initial attack.

A crackling blue field seemed to surround the red-haired man as he curiously studied the bullets. He then raised his cybernetic arm to show what appeared to be some sort of computerized gauntlet on his fore-arm. "Damn," he said. "Those bullets would have killed me for sure." Then he gave them a cruel smile. "Here, you can have them back." Suddenly, the bullets shot back to their points of origin at even greater velocity than what they were fired at, killing several of the yakuza gunmen and wounding others.

Odai watched as his fellow soldiers were being picked off by this laughing psycho. Out of anger (and more than a little desperation), he kicked over one of the crates and grabbed one of the weapons that spilled out. While hiding behind the fallen crate for cover, he quickly quickly thumbed the activation code on the device and prayed he had enough time to charge up. Though it took only seven seconds, it felt more like seven minutes. He saw Hiro's body lying several feet away, half obscured by the dim lighting in the warehouse, and shook his head.

_I'm sorry I failed you, my friend. But I'll kill the fucker who did this._

With a wild yell, he jumped up and pulled the trigger, unleashing three shots of energized plasma at the target, who went flying across the warehouse and slamming into the back wall. Odai and the surviving yakuza closed in and continued to keep firing at the downed man who was trying to get back on his feet. However, that damn field that surrounded him, was still blocking the bullets. Odai fired another shot from the plasma-launcher, causing the man to stumble backwards.

"Okay, that's enough," the stranger said, making a slashing motion with his cybernetic-arm. An invisible force suddenly hit Odai and the others, knocking them all off their feet. He heard one man scream followed by a sickening "splutch" sound as if he were impaled on something. He tried to get to his feet and pick up the dropped plasma-launcher, but felt the invisible force suddenly pick him up off the ground and hold him there.

The red-haired man slowly approached Odai, pausing for a moment to pick up the plasma-launcher. He inspected the weapon for a moment and shook his head. "You know, it really pisses me off when someone rips off my designs and then mass produces a much more inferior product when compared to the original."

"Who...are...you?" Odai managed to choke out as he felt the invisible force start to constrict around his throat.

"You know, your friend asked me that question, and it cost him his life," the man said. "However, it looks like you really don't know who I am." He then glanced at the other surviving yakuza members who were still pointing their weapons at him even though they must have realized their guns weren't doing any damage. "My name...is Buddy Pine."

The mention of his name didn't seem to get any reaction, so Buddy tried again. "You know...Syndrome, the guy who killed a bunch of supers about ten years ago?"

Again, no reaction...except for the inappropriate sound of a cricket starting to chirp.

"Oh, come on!" Buddy exclaimed. "I kill a bunch of supers and nobody remembers?" Upon seeing no reaction, Buddy sighed and hung his head in defeat. "I can't believe I got erased that easily...then again, guess I have to start all over." With a slight hand gesture, the zero-point field that was holding the one yakuza gunman up in the air suddenly turned the man's head sharply to one side, snapping his neck. Another zero-point field, a more concentrated wave, swept out in a sinister arc, ripping the remaining gunmen in half.

He was about to toss the one floating dead man aside, but suddenly stopped as he noted the man's height and build were similar to his own. But it was the clothing the man wore that got Buddy's attention. "Nice suit," he said to the corpse.

Ten minutes later, Buddy Pine was wearing a black Italian-made suit, and listening to an MP3 player he had taken off one of the other dead gunmen while thumbing through the little palm-pilot computer that belonged to the yakuza member he had shot in the head. He smiled as he saw the current business transaction that was supposed to take place.

_Hmm...seems like someone is in the business to buy some hardware. I think it's time they traded up._

He walked over to another dead body and pulled a cell-phone out of the dead man's pocket.

"Can I borrow this? Thanks."

He then dialed the contact number from the file on the palm-pilot and waited until someone answered. "The deal has been been put on hold," he told them. "Unfortunately, the Nakato will no longer be able to do business with you."

"Who the hell is this?" asked the man on the other end of the line.

"Your new business partner," Buddy replied. "Don't worry, you'll be hearing from me soon."

"We had a deal!"

"And I intend to honor it," Buddy assured them. "It's just that there's going to be a change of venue and I'm going offer you a better quality product."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Believe what you want," Buddy said. "But I will contact you in one week...and make sure you bring the twenty million." Buddy then tossed the phone over his shoulder and started to walk away when something shiny caught his eye. He knelt down and picked up a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses that had belonged to one of the yakuza. He looked at them for a moment, then smiled as he put them on and studied his reflection in the mirror of the truck.

"Oh, look at you, you handsome devil you," he laughed. Then he returned his attention to the MP3 player as he walked out of the warehouse, looking for an appropriate song. He then put the earphones in his ears and pulled out a tiny black box with two buttons, one red, one green. When he was certain he was far enough away, he pushed the green button which caused the red one to start flashing. He kept walking when he pushed the red button, triggering the explosives he rigged in the warehouse.

"_Ooooooh – Stop"_

Buddy smiled as the explosions seemed to go off in tandem to the song. He knew the setting wasn't original, but he just felt it was appropriate.

"_With your feet in the air and your head on the ground_

_Try this trick and spin it, yeah_

_Your head will collapse_

_But there's nothing in it_

_And you'll ask yourself..."_

Buddy sung along as he walked away.

"_Where is my mind....where is my mind....wheeeeeerrrreee is my mind...."_


End file.
